Can I get a good Seattle bagel at... Mt. Bagel

The king has returned to claim its crown. But is the lion in winter?

Welcome to It’s A Shanda, one Northeastern Jew’s quest to find a decent bagel in Seattle (and beyond). If you’re interested in taking this journey with me, make sure you subscribe so you never miss a review. If you want to ensure I review any specific bagels (or want to let me know why I’m wrong), you can email me at seanmatthewkeeley@gmail.com.

“Before I began this newsletter, I already knew how it was going to end. I was going to do my due diligence and eat all of the bagels in town but there was no way I was going to find anything better than what Mt. Bagel was doing.”

That was me back in February when I found out that Mt. Bagel was returning to Seattle following a sojourn to Oregon.

I’ve never been shy about what I thought of Mt. Bagel and if you’ve spoken with people who used to get their bagel deliveries before the move, they probably haven’t been either.

When I first learned that owner Roan Hartzog was taking his talents to Bend, which just so happened to coincide with the launch of this newsletter, it felt like a seismic shift in the Seattle bagel scene.

“Mt. Bagel is one of the best bagels I’ve ever eaten in my entire life,” I wrote in June 2022. “I’d put their starch circles in the same category as some of the best New Jersey and New York bagels I’ve had. It’s that good and it’s a huge loss to Seattle bagel eaters who would line up for hours on the rare days that they held a pop-up shop.”

It was devastating news, not just for someone who loves eating bagels but for someone who had just decided to invest his time and energy into writing about local bagels. And yet, I suppose, I did feel like it presented an opportunity.

When Sue Bird ended her storied WNBA career last year, it created a void in our understanding of what Seattle Storm basketball was. No matter what, she was a constant. Losing the steady presence of someone like that shifts the floor beneath us and opens the door to a future we aren’t sure we know how to travel. And yet, we have no choice. The Storm are now rebuilding without any knowledge of what’s ahead. I saw the post-Mt. Bagel landscape as a similar path. I didn’t know what was out there for me, but I was excited to find out.

And now that I’ve gotten solid footing on what I think the Seattle bagel scene looks like, Mt. Bagel has returned and changed everything once more.

Roan Hartzog first made his mark in Seattle as the frontman for the garage rock band Cabana. The Jacksonville native had another passion waiting backstage, however, in the world of bagels. And he was not impressed with what he was finding around town.

“I was like, ‘Why can’t I get a good bagel in this city?’” Hartzog said to Eater Seattle in 2020.

As happens with so many bagel lovers who can’t find satisfaction, he started perfecting his own. It didn’t hurt to have a day job working in Tom Douglas’s bread bakery, where he could hone his skills. One day, Mt. Bagel emerged on Instagram as a side hustle, with Hartzog delivering his bagels whenever time allowed.

It did not take long for word to spread. Word of mouth was one thing but the limited nature of bagel availability helped play a role in its virality as well. If you wanted Mt. Bagel, you had to know the exact time each week that online orders were available (Monday at noon) and you had to be fast. It wasn’t uncommon for each week’s orders to be sold out within minutes (literally). And then you waited, often ordering weeks ahead of time for a delivery of a dozen bagels and fresh cream cheese.

That’s a lot to ask of customers when it comes to bagels, but they were happy for the opportunity. The devotion that Mt. Bagel evangelists had was a testament to just how good they were. Crispy and crunchy in a city where most bagels weren’t. Fluffy on the inside in a way few local bagels could be. Coupled with flavorful schmears that elevated the entire experience. There wasn’t a list of Seattle’s best bagels that dared to exist without including them.

All the more reason that, when Hartzog announced out of the blue in April 2022 he and the business were leaving Seattle, it felt traumatic. Unfair, even.

Finally, Seattle didn’t have to overpraise mediocrity in order to feel better about its bagel bona fides. We had a legitimate contender to compete with the best bagels in America. And then poof…it was gone.

Until it wasn’t.

“I’m so happy to say we are coming back to where it all started, better than ever,” wrote Hartzog on the Mt. Bagel Instagram account in January. This time, along with online deliveries, there would be a brick-and-mortar location in Madison Valley. Anticipation carried us through to June when they started teasing test sales, which ended in typical Mt. Bagel fashion (fast sell-outs). On Friday, June 23, they held their first pre-order since returning to Seattle. And on Tuesday, June 27, the doors officially opened on the retail shop.

Mt. Bagel is back. They’ve brought the hype back with them. But are their bagels still best in show? Only one way to know for sure.

And if you want to know how I define a good bagel, you can find that here.

WHAT I ORDERED

• Plain bagel as-is

• Everything bagel with scallion cream cheese.

My attempt at prop styling.

THE EXPERIENCE

Like many other Seattlites, I built my entire Friday last week around getting a dozen bagels and cream cheese through Mt. Bagel’s online ordering system. I planned my morning meticulously. I logged onto the website and pre-loaded my credit card and address info into my account. I made sure I could be completely focused so that when the clock hit 12:00 p.m. and the order forms magically appeared, I would have no problem getting these glorious golden brown bagels.

At 12:00, four pre-order options appeared on the site, each for a different day. I picked one and immediately started sorting which bagels I wanted for my dozen. I then selected my cream cheese and proceeded to checkout. There was one error in my billing address that I needed to update but that wasn’t a big deal, right? By the time I sorted that out and pressed the button to place my order, it was 12:03 p.m.

Only the cream cheese went through. The bagels were already all sold out.

Motherf…

They kindly refunded me for the cream cheese, but the pressure was now on. Knowing that their shop would be open on Tuesday gave me some comfort, though the 9:00 a.m. opening time made me jittery. I knew that I was going to want to be there early. I didn’t want a repeat of the Howdy Bagel experience and the odds seemed high that I wasn’t the only person planning accordingly. Veterans of the old Mt. Bagel pop-ups know all too well what happens when you’re late.

And so, on Tuesday, I woke up at 7:00 a.m. and started the trek to 801 26th Ave E. Arriving a few minutes before 8:00 a.m., I saw the Mt. Bagel logo on a nondescript building nestled in the middle of a very residential neighborhood. As expected, I also saw I wasn’t the only one to consider this strategy.

I was No. 2 in line for opening day. I could live with that.

To be fair, the onslaught of excited bagel fans didn’t arrive as I thought it might. By the time 8:30 a.m. rolled around, there were about a dozen people in line. However, it turned out we were all smarter than we knew as the doors opened a half-hour early.

The Mt. Bagel menu doesn’t mess around. You can order single bagels or you can order a dozen. You can choose from six flavors (plain, sesame, poppy, salt, garlic, onion, everything). You can also choose from three cream cheese options (plain, scallion, spicy scallion). That’s it. No Instagram sandwiches. No wacky flavors. No nonsense.

I placed my order (three plains, three everythings, a tub of scallion schmear) and I was out the door in a minute. Matching the ethos of their menu, the interior was spartan and utilitarian. Including the delivery driver, I counted four people, including Roan, who was busy rolling dough.

True to form, they ended up selling out by 9:20 a.m., justifying my disturbingly early wake-up call.

UPON FIRST GLANCE

First, a shout-out to Mt. Bagel for their prices. $2.75 for a bagel and $28 for a dozen. That’s not the cheapest in town by any stretch and is actually very much in line with the averages. But given their reputation (and the demand created by scarcity) they could absolutely charge more and people would pay it. I’m glad they haven’t followed that path.

I rushed home to start digging into my bagels and as I pulled them out of the bag I quickly noticed that there was a true lack of uniformity between them. Each of the three plain bagels was especially different in terms of size, coloring, and bake. That’s not a bad thing per se, but I had a crisis in terms of which one to choose for the review. I decided to choose the one that most fit the “classic” notion of what a bagel should look like.

TOP

The plain bagel was a lovely golden brown with some great-looking blisters and bubbles. The middle was also super-snug with little room for anything to pass through. Looks great, no notes.

When I touched the top, it did feel a little rubbery, which was surprising. I didn’t feel a ton of crispiness and I was suddenly in my own head wondering if I misremembered the Mt. Bagels of my youth*.

*one year ago

As for the everything bagel, there are strong seed hands and then there’s Mt. Bagel’s seed hand. That hand is heavy and it wields its power with reckless abandon. I don’t think I could find a spot on the top of the bagel that wasn’t seeded and the everything “fragrance” coming off the bagel was extremely strong. The seasoning also included salt, AS GOD INTENDED, so that was great to see.

This bagel was a bit more crisp on the touch and had a firmer top, which was a good sign.

Bottoms up.

BOTTOM

The bottom of the plain bagel was similar to the top. Soft and lacking much noticeable texture. Not what I was expecting. I noticed the slightest whiff of cornmeal, which seemed like what it’s supposed to look like down there. When I pushed down on the bottom, I could feel air escaping the bagel as it re-inflated, not unlike the way a dog’s chew toy would. That was…disconcerting.

As for the everything bagel, the bottom was extremely soft. There was some decent seeding spread across it, though, which I always appreciate.

INSIDE/BITE

The plain bagel gave me a really good, tough tear. That said, when I bit into it, the entire thing collapsed pretty easily. The interior was extremely fluffy and airy, but there wasn’t the rebound that I would hope for after the bite. If I held the bagel in my hand long enough, it flattened out pretty thoroughly.

I smelled a hint of something bready but wasn’t sure if it was sourdough or rye. It wasn’t overwhelming and I did still sense some of the traditional bagel smell in there as well.

Overall, it was a tough chew with little to no crunch on any bite. To be quite honest, this was not the bagel I remember.

For the everything, the interior had a really nice bagel smell with a hint of what seemed like rye to me. This one was also fluffy on the inside as well.

The star of the show was the scallion cream cheese. It had a strong and delicious scallion flavor that you could taste. Coupled with the everything seeds, it was among the most flavorful bagel bites I’ve had in Seattle. The everything toppings were definitely salt-forward, which I loved, but could possibly be too much for some.

Again, the bagel collapsed pretty thoroughly on the bite. It was chewy in a good way, but I was still looking for a little more textural balance. The bites where I did get some crispiness were the best ones.

Putting the everything in an everything bagel.

FINAL THOUGHTS

A few weeks back, Loxsmith, which boasted a stellar reputation in Seattle bagel circles, opened a new shop in Beacon Hill. I was pretty disappointed by my visit and questioned whether or not they were still figuring out their equipment and the space.

I’m left wondering if Mt. Bagel finds itself in the same situation.

My uneducated guess is that there’s a baking issue that’s still getting worked out. All three of the plain bagels I got seemed to have been baked at different levels and achieved different results. The expected crispiness that was a staple of old Mt. Bagel didn’t appear to be there. The bottoms were especially soft, which ended up throwing off the quality of the bite. I remember Mt. Bagel’s bagels being much crispier and much more balanced.

Maybe I’m being overly nitpicky. Maybe my expectations were so sky-high that it was inevitable that I would be somewhat disappointed. Maybe I just picked the wrong bagel. I don’t know.

All of which isn’t to say I think these bagels are bad. I did enjoy the everything bagel and I loved the cream cheese. It’s still among the best bagels in the city without a doubt, but…and I can’t believe I’m about to write this…I don’t think it has reclaimed its crown.

Is It Good Enough For The Goys?

Look, I know my review reads harshly, but please know that I would still jump at one of their bagels over 95% of the bagels in this city. It’s not even a question. The goyim should be so lucky to be disappointed by Mt. Bagel.

So yes, keep bracing yourself to order a dozen online for delivery. Keep lining up to buy their bagels. Keep hyping them up on the gram. I have to assume time will give us a very different experience in the weeks ahead. I don’t have faith in too many Seattle bagel spots, but I have faith in Mt. Bagel.

Is It Good Enough For Northeastern Jews

Something I like about the new Mt. Bagel is the neighborhood vibe of their location. And I think it would be pretty cool to bring some Northeasterners on a stroll through Seattle and arrive at this random place in the middle of a residences to enjoy a very solid bagel. I’d be crossing my fingers the whole time that it resembled the Mt. Bagel experience of yore, but even if not, I still think it reps the city well.

That said, and I truly cannot believe it, I’m not handing Mt. Bagel its crown back. At least not yet.

MY SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS SO FAR (6/29/23)

1. Bagel Oasis

2. Little Market

3. Mt.Bagel

4. Old Salt

5. Oxbow

6. Loxsmith

7. Aaron’s Bagels

8. Rubinstein

9. Zylberschtein’s

10. Ben & Esther’s

11. Bean & Bagel

12. Rachel’s

13. Macrina

14. Westman’s

15. Grateful Bread

16. Eltana

17. Blazing Bagels

18. Dingfelder’s

19. Kelly’s Cannoli

20. Bagelbop

OUTSIDE SEATTLE BAGEL RANKINGS

1. The Bagelry (Bellingham)

2. Howdy Bagel (Tacoma)

3. Otherside Bagel Co. (Bellingham)

4. Whidbey Island Bagel Factory (Mt. Vernon, Whidbey Island)

5. Bruchelle’s Bagel Bistro (Covington)

Thanks for actually reading this far. If you enjoyed my Seattle bagel review and want to read more of them, make sure you’re subscribed to It’s A Shanda. Know someone in the Greater Seattle Area (or beyond) who would appreciate way-too-detailed reviews of local bagels? Please forward the link their way.